Flag of Colombia

Ratio

2:3

Adoption

1861

Design

a horizontal tricolor of yellow (double-width), blue and red. [0]

Colors

#FCD116

#003893

#CE1126

History

Francisco de Miranda was the person who originally created the common yellow, blue and red flag of Gran Colombia that Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, with slight variations, share today. Miranda gave at least two sources of inspiration for his flag. In a letter written to Count Simon Romanovich Woronzoff (Vorontsov) in 1792, Miranda stated that the colors were based on a theory of primary colours given to him by the German writer and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Miranda described at a late-night conversation which he had with Goethe at a party in Weimar during the winter of 1785. Fascinated with Miranda's account of his exploits in the United States Revolutionary War and his travels throughout the Americas and Europe, Goethe told him that, "Your destiny is to create in your land a place where primary colours are not distorted."

After Miranda later designed his flag based on this conversation, he happily recalled seeing a fresco by Lazzaro Tavarone in the Palazzo Belimbau in Genoa that depicted Christopher Columbus unfurling a similar-coloured flag in Veragua during his fourth voyage.

In his military diary, Miranda gave another possible source of inspiration: the yellow, blue and red standard of the Burger Guard (Bürgerwache) of Hamburg, which he also saw during his travels in Germany. [0]

Meaning

According to the current interpretation, yellow represents all the gold found in the Colombian land, blue represents the seas on Colombia's shores, the rivers that run through, and the sky above, and red represents the blood spilled for Colombia's independence.

Although, the flag has other representatives such as blue for loyalty and vigilance, red for victory of battles for Colombian independence, and finally yellow for sovereignty and justice. [0]